Fourth of July Weekend

I honestly can't believe it's Saturday already. It's been a really busy two weeks.

Two weeks ago, Christie, Michelle, and the boys got home from Alaska. Couple of hours before she got here, Christie was texting me, and trying to get my attention, but the wifi had gone out at Melissa's, where I was babysitting Caroline since Melissa wasn't able to lift her yet. I got this hilarious text later on when the wifi came back.

Christie:

"Please have my bedroom prepared with fresh flowers, the highest quality chocolates, lavender water, and sweet smelling candles. I wish to have my bath drawn for me when I walk in the door. Have my house slippers warming by the fire, and my robe laid out upon my bed. Don't let the dog in; I wish not to have dog hairs all over my freshly laundered sheets.

Oh, and the please was just a formality. I expect all of this to be done when I get home."

Of course I couldn't just not do anything....

Me:

"Madam:

I am so sorry I have taken so long to get back to you. The reasons are as follows.

The flowers died when I walked outside,

The chocolates crumbled when I stumbled.

The lavender water turned pungent when I tried to add some unguent,

And the candles decided to melt when I tried to add some felt.

The water ran out and I couldn't quite catch it, 

And the slippers caught fire when I let the match to it.

I set the robe on your bed, as you wanted,

But the dog tore it up, and happily grunted.

He left the dog hairs all over your room,

And I couldn't start that blasted vacuum.

So you see, I tried quite hard,

But my work got ruined, charred!

Sincerely,

The Butler"

The first thing I did when Christie got home was to give her a low bow. Oh, the love of two sisters. 

The next week was filled with taking care of Patrick, Jacob, Caroline, AND Nathanael...Caroline and Patrick fought often, and Jacob and Nathanael just stayed cute. 

Beforehand, when Caroline was smaller, Patrick would bully her and she couldn't do anything because she was too little. But now...oh now...

Patrick's first fight with Caroline was when he started poking her in the stomach and sticking his face in hers, giving her a 'whatcha-gonna-do-now' face.

 She slapped him.

 Then they started slapping each other until Christie intervened.

The next fight I saw (except for the constant bickering, which all kids do so that doesn't really count) was when Caroline saw my converses lying about and said "SHOE!" and raced to put them on. Patrick saw this and decided to get them first, so he put them on and started pushing Caroline away rather rudely. 

So she bit his hand.

I ran up and spanked both of them, saying in turn, "Do NOT fight!" and "Do NOT bite!" while I tried hard not to laugh. 

Melissa wondered if it was a bad thing to be glad your daughter was fighting back this time...

For fourth of July weekend, Michell and the kids went to see family with Michell's parents, and we spent the day at the LeBlanc's on Friday with the Morales'. It was a lot of fun. 

We played soccer, fought with waterballoons and hoses, played ratchetball (which had the same principle as the British game Rhiannon taught us (I don't know how to spell it...but you SAY it 'bool', as in 'pool'), we rode the four-wheeler (and now I'm covered in poisons ivy but it was worth it) and finished the night off with sparklers and big fireworks, which were amazing.

I've been writing away, cleaning the upstairs library, and drawing a dream place of mine....and drinking lots of coffee.

To finish off today, I'll write and write and write and drink tea...and watch Doctor Who and Warehouse 13...and write and watch Doctor Who and drink tea...and watch MacGyver and drink coffee....
You get the general idea.

Happy 4th, y'all!